Peregrine Portrait

[John Harper]

Hi There

Been away from taking pictures for a while as have been busy at work, but thought i would post this shot captured recently at my usual haunt of the Hawk Conservancy Trust here in the UK.

This shot is of Lark the Peregrine falcon, and it was an unusual capture. During his normal flying routine, he either got fed up or tired, or both, and decided to take a break halfway through his display.

Imagine my surprise as he flies straight at me misses my head by about 12 inches and lands on the fence no more than 2 feet behind me. I had my usual 500mm on, so had to run back about 10 feet or so to get to minimum focus distance. only managed 3 shots before he took off again.

Managed to get focus on the eye, but depth of field is pretty small, as I was shooting wide open at f4 and didn't have time to stop down, but I quite like the cloud scape reflected in his left eye.

John

EOS 1DMKIII EF 500 F4L ISO ISO 800 1/2000 @ F4

[Axel Hildebrandt]

Nice opportunity and well done. I like the reflection of the clouds in the eye. I might sharpen a bit less and remove the noise in the BG.

[Julie Kenward]

Beautiful image, John. I noticed the cloudscape in his eye right away - it's fabulous! I also recommend a less aggressive sharpening - it seems a little harsh. Overall, it's a fascinating portrait!

[Maxis Gamez]

Amazing details and reflection in the eye.

[Lana Hays]

John
An interesting story....I can just imagine the scrambling to get back. I'd back off on the sharpening as suggested and smooth out the noise in the BG. You've done an excellent job with the detail and exposure as well as in your self critique. Well done.

[Gus Cobos]

Great capture John, I like the up close pose. The details are fantastic. I like the reflection in the eyes. Need to run some noise reduction on the background...congrats John...I like it...:D